• Give examples of descending paragraphs.

• Provide various but interrelated definitions for

descending paragraphs.

• List steps on how to properly write descending

paragraphs.

• The automobile accident resulted in serious damage. 

The passenger in the VW was hurled through the

windshield; her throat was  slashed and she bled to

death before the paramedics arrived.  The VW driver

had both his legs broken.  The driver of the Mercedes

showed us his black and blue ribs from when his air

bag deployed.  My sister, who was sleeping on the

back seat of the Mercedes, bumped her face and had

a swollen lip.  The front of the VW bug was crushed,

and the Mercedes had scratches on its front bumper

and grill. 

• It also known as the anticlimactic paragraph.

• It shows an abrupt shift from a serious or

noble tone to a less exalted one--often for comic

effect.

• It also refers to an unexpected twist in the plot, an

incident marked by a sudden diminishment of

intensity or significance.

• It is basically the anti-thesis of climactic paragraphs:

descending paragraphs fizzle out with details that

are so minor that basically seem irrelevant if not for

their connection to the main idea.

• As he hesitated over the after-dinner drink, she intervened

to say, 'Oh, let’s have sherry rather than brandy by all

means. When I sip sherry, it seems to me that I am

transported from the everyday scenes by which I may, at

that moment, be surrounded. The flavor, the aroma, bring

to mind irresistibly--for what reason I know not--a kind of

faerie bit of nature: a hilly field bathed in soft sunshine, a

clump of trees in the middle distance, a small brook curving

across the scene, nearly at my feet. This, together with the

fancied drowsy sound of insects and distant lowing of

cattle, brings to my mind a kind of warmth, peace, and

serenity, a sort of dovetailing of the world into a beautiful

entirety. Brandy, on the other hand, makes me fart.'"

(Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor, 1971)

• Begin with the sentence that you think brings the

most impact to potential readers.

• As you work through the sentences, remember the

flow of action. It should eventually diminish in

effect.

• As you near the end of writing the paragraph, make

sure that you have made full use of your weakest

sentences and included the most minor of details.

• End the paragraph with the weakest sentence

possible.

• "He died, like so many young men of his

generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom,

Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright

flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at

Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so

would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling."

(The Big Lebowski, 1998)

The End.The End.